Budget deficit and government debt requirements no longer seen as consistent with each other

The rules that govern fiscal policy in the eurozone should be simplified to ensure that member governments cut their debts, economists at the International Monetary Fund said in a paper published Friday.

The rules, enshrined in the 1997 Stability and Growth Pact, are intended to ensure that national governments don’t take advantage of their membership of the eurozone to borrow excessively, and thereby threaten the stability of the...